Feffster

I don’t have a PS5 so nothing to compare it to, but there are definitely performance issues on Series X. VRR and 120hz still fail to save the day.

Anyway, I’m enjoying the game more than I thought I would - it’s just a shame the game hasn’t been properly optimised for X/S especially as this is a first party game and the developers have had an extra year to get it ship-shape.

If anything it further illustrates the poor management/control Microsoft has over its studios.

Looking forward to Benedict Fox. Was also looking forward to Redfall but someone put a stake through its heart - will play when it is removed.

@Banjo- well said, and fingers crossed one day it sees the light of day on Xbox.

@Banjo- I wish they’d just released the XBLA version for us to enjoy, I’d love to give it a go. In fact I’d happily pay for it as well.

I tried this lacklustre version, but I just can’t get on with it. It’s so frustrating when you know there is something much, much better that will likely never get a proper release.

So far so-so for me but despite the average graphics, performance, story and gameplay I’m still interested to explore more - so there must be something in there to like and I’m interested to see how the character/skills/abilities develop.

No thank you. I like plenty of Ubisoft games but have already bought them or will wait until they are on sale.

Microsoft and Bethesda have turned this whole thing into a sh*t show. Of course they should have delayed the game (instead of yesterday’s announcement) but how can they now?….and if they do they will now face the wrath of everyone who can’t see the difference between 30 and 60 (or doesn’t care). What a mess.

If the 60fps patch was likely to be a ‘quick fix’ you’d have to assume they would simply have delayed a few weeks, so the smart money says it won’t be sorted in a hurry.

What a complete and utter embarrassment.

…checks date….but it’s not April 1st

WTF, absolute joke. What on earth is going on?! 30fps unplayable nowadays for me, especially in FPS, action or racing games.

I’m finding the controls less of an issue than I did with Atomic Heart, but…..again….performance is a real issue on Series X.

I really don’t understand how a first party game can be released in this state, especially one year after it came out on PS5. What’s been happening over the past year? Why hasn’t it been optimised and polished to within an inch of its life for the Xbox release?

@Hexamex-Tex - I was wondering if it was just me. What a mess, performance mode dropping frames all over the place on Series X. The other modes seem to be no better.

How can this be the state of the game a year after it was released on PS5? Did no one test it?!…

I’ve never used this but after the dismal version of Goldeneye that they chose to release I recently started looking at how to get the XBLA version to run on Series X. Sadly I never got around to giving it a go and it looks like that avenue is now closed off. Don’t get me wrong, I’d more than happily pay for a ‘legal’ release of that game, but I can’t see that ever happening.

Yep, Task#1 not tracking for me either…

@Stocksy - I’m glad it’s not just me mate! Series X has got me back into gaming and over the last 2 years there’s hardly been a week when I haven’t played FH4 and/or 5. I especially love the changing seasons in FH4 and the way the weather can change dramatically over the course of a single race. I haven’t ‘finished’ either, and doubt I’ll ever get there. Off topic, but GRID Legends is also worth a look if you are into your racers - cheesy storyline aside, there’s some fantastic racing when you ramp up the difficulty.

Good review. From some of the comments I can’t help think that we are completely spoilt these days - I remember spending umpteen hours marvelling at Sega Rally on Saturn and being amazed that those 3D visuals had made their way from the arcade into my living room. And 4 courses too! (if you unlocked the bonus course)

Nowadays people moan because this 20gig expansion can be ‘finished’ in a day - that’s over two dozen race routes that can be played in rally or race mode and numerous other challenges. All with variable weather, times of day and destructible scenery rendered in 4K at a rock solid 60fps.

I think it’s got to the point where users are almost ‘immune’ to what they are looking at, with ridiculously high expectations. I’m so glad I can still enjoy and appreciate where gaming has come to from those early days of a few dodgy pixels being loaded (sometime, but not always) from a dodgy tape recorder onto my Atari 400 😃

Can’t complain, cost me all of £3.49 and February’s reward points. Graphics are superb, much less pop-up/in than Mexico. Not keen on the new music or the navigator, but both can be muted.

Great getting the Hours of Darkness DLC for free, just finished the Far Cry 5 campaign this week so perfect timing.

I gave up about 5 hours in - erratic frame rate and every other time I went to play there was yet another huge update.

Did the patches finally fix the performance? (Series X) If they did then I could be tempted to try again.

@grumpypotato - many thanks.

Excellent. Small patch downloaded (less than half a gig) and everything looks instantly sharper. No need to muck about with fps boost options as this now runs at 60fps. Gen 9 aware so it runs fine from external storage. If only all patches downloaded this quickly and made instant improvements (I’m looking at you Atomic Heart!)

Question - article says this applies to the base game and all expansions. What does this include exactly?…the season pass includes 3 stories AND Far Cry 3 Classic Edition. Does FC3 classic also get an upgrade?

And does anyone know if the improvements also apply to Far Cry New Dawn?…

Good news but just hope they make it Gen9 Aware rather than a full Gen9 release - otherwise it’ll eat into that valuable X/S storage.

I used to love Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing back in the N64 days. Wish Rare would put something together for Series X/S - there must be plenty of characters they can include from Sea of Thieves, Banjo, etc.

@Fenbops - thanks. So I guess there isn’t much incentive for them to sign? What benefit would they gain from it vs opposing the deal?

So let’s roll this forward and assume the merger does go through….if by then Sony has refused to accept the offered 10 year deal, does that mean they are left with their trousers down and no guarantee of CoD, etc beyond current contractual obligations? If so, that would be just desserts for acting like a spoilt child.

@Tharsman - well said, and also a couple of AoE games, plus Goldeneye and likely Ghostwire Tokyo.

If that’s an empty year then I’m happy to have one every year.

Blimey I’m old, this reminded me I loved Links Golf back in the day on the original Xbox.

@CaptnDave - obviously you can change drivatar difficulty, racing line, assists, etc in the options but I’d also say experiment with the car types and find one they like the feel of. Ferraris, etc might look cool but are not always the easiest to handle, they might find a less powerful car, or a 4x4 is easier for their style.

Sudden Strike. Best game on GWG for ages.

Not completed, but 7/10 so far. Enjoying the graphics, puzzles and the nod to Bioshock.

Good but not brilliant.

…another patch today…12.37gb, downloading.

Looks superb, really looking forward to this.

Sensitivity and dead zone reset back to default and the drifting camera when stationary seems to have gone.

Something still weird about turning though - movement seems to sometimes stall for a millisecond before you move in the chosen direction.

Brief first look, but -

@grumpypotato - I agree about the camera turning, definitely something weird going on. Also the camera seems to ‘drift’ when your character is stationary which is a bit nauseating and very odd.

Graphics are good, looking forward to getting further into this but hope the controller issues don’t spoil it.

@FraserG - it would be rude not to. Best Gamepass game of 2022. The only game I 100% completed last year, but took me c14 hrs to do everything.

This should be right up my street - I loved Command and Conquer back in the day and still play skirmishes on Halo Wars 1&2 most weeks. However, I’m struggling a bit with the control system - probably just my pea brain, but I’m a long way off mastering my armies just yet.

Enjoying it so far though, I’ve dispatched the English from Scotland and am now taking them on as Joan of Arc.

Better than nothing, but still perplexed as to why the XB360 version wasn’t tweaked for release on Series consoles.

Looks spectacular, so no problem waiting a little longer.

Can’t play for another 10 days as I’m away from home…..damn, looking forward to trying this out as the N64 version consumed a lot of my life before I got old and grey!

Disappointing to hear only 30fps but the warning signs were there when the blurb mentioned “smoother” frame rate, not 60.

Maybe the tech heads can work their magic and make this a candidate for FPS boost at a later date.

I’m happy to know what’s coming, even if it’s years away - but keep the hype in check until the final 6 months before release.

@EvenStephen7 - agreed, and the current general lack of communication on GP is very odd.

Hopefully we’ll get some sort of clarity this week on new GP games but the Twitter ‘coming soon, soon’ nonsense is bordering on being childish. Do MS even have any concept of what is ‘soon’? - it’s months since they told us Goldeneye was coming to Gamepass ‘soon’.

Part of the fun of gaming (and Gamepass) is looking forward to what’s coming next. Why they are currently removing that anticipation is beyond me.

Excellent news, shaping up to be a phenomenal year for Xbox.

I’m going to be optimistic for a change, maybe 2023 will be a big year for Xbox…

Jan - Age of Empires 2
Feb - Goldeneye
March/April - Forza Motorsport
May - Redfall
June - Starfield
July/Aug - FH 5 2nd DLC
Sept - Hellblade 2
Oct - Gears collection
Nov - new Wolfenstein game
Dec - Avowed, Age of Empires 4

& while we’re in dreamland, I win the biggest ever lottery jackpot sometime around Christmas 2023.

5- Tinykin
4- AC Odyssey
3 - AC Origins
2- Deathloop
1 - GRID Legends

Tough choice though, could easily have included A Plague Tale Requiem, Inside, Mass Effect, Immortals Fenix Rising and more.

For the life of me I just can’t get excited about Ray Tracing at all - it’s like emperor’s new clothes to me. Performance mode is great though and I’ve enjoyed it so far despite the slightly ‘clunky’ controls (perhaps I’ve just played too much AC Odyssey).

Certainly no complaints for a £5.99 game!

I know I’m in the minority but I found it terrible. Performance has improved following the patches (it was abysmal before them) but try as I might I just can’t get any enjoyment from this game.

I wanted to like it, so much so that I installed, uninstalled and then reinstalled to give it another go - but to me the gameplay is just bland. Needless to say it’s been uninstalled again. No harm in trying on Gamepass though, and clearly there are plenty of people who do like it.

@themightyant - thanks 👍

Smashing game, great addition to Gamepass

@Cyberpsycho - thanks, I thought it had all gone a bit quiet.

No thanks, I’m happy with GPU - but it may suit some.

Btw, does anyone know happened to Ubisoft +? It must be 12 months since Ubisoft and Microsoft said it was coming to Xbox “soon”.

@BAMozzy - to be clear, I’m not here for an argument - simply to express my opinion.

However, I think you’ve missed my point, or maybe I haven’t made it clearly enough.

In summary -

I get GWG ‘free’ as I subscribe to GPU.
I see it as a bonus and I’m not stressed about what’s on it or not.
However, I do think this year’s offerings have been generally ‘poor’ (with some exceptions as I said above).
That’s my opinion which is subjective, but also that of lots of others (hence the large number of E & F votes).
I’m not bothered about the financial value of the games offered.
The value of a game to me is whether I like it or not, it isn’t based upon its financial cost. Hence I’m indifferent on whether there should be AAA games included, but if there are then I’m happy to accept them.
I don’t agree with your assessment of remakes of these older games - Powerslave/Exhumed is one of the best remakes of a classic game ever made - certainly not “ some old 20+ yr old game dug up from the grave of history, ported to modern hardware as cheaply as possible” as you state above.
As I said above, I’m not suggesting that GWG should just be about older games or remakes. Again, I’m quite happy to see newer or indie titles included….with the proviso that they are good ones, that raise the standard of GWG which is currently generally poor.
I appreciate that opinions on games are subjective, but using something like metacritic to assess whether a game is generally well received isn’t a bad start point.

I’m happy to stand by my original post - GWG needs to improve or be killed off.

This is my last post on the subject but go ahead and have the final word. In the meantime I’m off to play Portal 2 - one of this year’s better offerings on GWG.

@BAMozzy - I would just like to see an overall improvement in the quality in the games offered with GWG (compared to those offered in 2022). No, I don’t expect AAA titles to be included, but obviously wouldn’t turn them away if they were.

My examples are subjective & happen to be older games/remakes but I’d be more than happy to see newer & indie titles too, just so long as they raise the standard.

The general opinion shown by the poll above is that currently GWG simply isn’t good enough & I completely agree.

@BAMozzy - fair point, and my suggestions are subjective but I still think that there must be a raft of games out there that would be “cheap” for Microsoft to license that would be higher quality than most of the offerings on GWG this past 12 months.

If GWG offerings were generally and consistently of a high standard this thread and discussion wouldn’t exist.

As I said above, GWG needs to improve or be killed off. I’m not bothered either way, but in its current state it is pretty irrelevant.